Hesperis matronalis 照片檔

Hesperis matronalis is a herbaceous plant species in the mustard family, Brassicaceae. It has numerous common names, including dames rocket, damask violet, dame's-violet, dames wort, dames gilliflower, night scented gilliflower, queens gilliflower, rogues gilliflower, summer lilac, sweet rocket, mother of the evening and winter gilliflower. Plants are biennials or short lived perennials, native to Eurasia and cultivated in many other areas of the world for their attractive, spring blooming flowers. In some of those areas, it has escaped cultivation and become a weed species. The genus name Hesperis is Greek for evening, and the name was probably given because the scent of the flowers becomes more conspicuous towards evening.